Prawns in coconut milk ( chingri macher malai curry)

This is a popular delicacy in a bengali household -"Prawns in coconut milk" it's called "chingri macher malai curry" in bengali.

This shrimp dish has a very creamy texture. The delicate minimalism here enhances a certain cravings and leaves one wanting for more.

So this is my recipe for the famous delicacy. 

Recipe:

• You will need Prawns/Shrimps- River scampi (cleaned and outer shell removed) : 700 grams / 1kg

• Coconut Milk: 1 pack (or) 1 cup  (approx; 200ml for 1 kg of shrimps) - नारियल का दूध 

• Spies I've used are: Green cardamom (इलाइची ) , Cinnamon (दाल चीनी ), Cloves (लोंग ), Red chilli powder, turmeric powder, 

• Fry 100 grams of onion.

• Then in a mixer grinder blend the fried onions and spices together into a smooth paste.

• Now coat the prawns (shrimps) with turmeric powder, chilly powder and salt.      

• Then shallow or deep fry the shrimp in a separate pan till golden and crispy outside and is soft inside. Keep it aside

• Add butter in pan,

      

• Add fried onion paste that you made above. Add 1 cup of coconut milk to adjust the consistency.
• Let it cook over low flame  while stirring continuously.
• Add the prawns, little sugar and Kashmiri chilli powder (or any chilli powder /paprika) & cook till the gravy thickens.
• Garnish with coconut cream/cream. Serve it hit with steamed rice.

~Enjoy!~

If you have any queries or questions please post it in the comment box. 

Breadizza! ( Bread Pizza)

The other day I was left with some yummy chilly chicken leftover from last night's dinner... It was almost time for my daughter to come from college and I was not ready with any snacks....I had only half an hour in hand.....so opened the refrigerator and Bingo.....The idea of "Bread pizza" came to my mind!! =) I was happy to see bell peppers and cheese in the fridge as well! :-D ....

So this is what I did:....

1st step....Take the bread slices and spread butter over it...let me tell you i have used brown bread and fat less butter

2nd step...Spread 2 tsp of chicken preparation (Any chicken pieces/Salami/chilly chicken, will do) on each bread along with some diced bell peppers (capsicum) and onions.

3rd step....I Added pure tomato sauce/ tomato puree on the top.

4th step....Finally I topped it off by adding some cheese (preferably mozzarella cheese) and put them into your microwave.

Now you can do it in convection mode of your microwave (ie Heat+Grilling)  or on automatic cooking or 3 minutes on high Heating (regular) and then grill for  5 min.

Serve it with a dash of chilly flakes and oregano.... 

The bread becomes crunchy!

Your quick Snack Is ready!

  ~ENJOY~

Traditional Bengali Sweets

Hi friends! I thought it was getting a bit boring here with all the recipes...was it?  So dears I decided to treat you all with some sweets from Burdwan, a historical place near West Bengal. Recently  some colleague of mine sent these to me and I wanted to share with you these delicious treats with you all through my blog...

These unique sweets are so yummy that you always keep wanting to eat more once you taste them. They are called "SITA-BHOG" & "CHANDRAPULI ... The one that looks like basmati rice and kidney beans is SitaBhog and the half moon shaped sweet is chandrapuli made out of coconut. I had no idea why the name is related to Sita (Hindu goddess)....let's imagine may be when Ram,Sita & Lakshman were exiled for 14 yrs to the forest, plenty of coconut was available and Sita Mata prepared these sweets and Lord Rama and Lakhsman must have loved these..... By the way this is just my imagination. (hehehe) *^_^*

The actual thing...as seen in google:

• Sitabhog and Mihidana are two famous sweets of Burdwan, in the state of West Bengal (also called bardhaman) introduced first in honor of the Raj family. Shaktigarh's Langcha is another local specialty for Shaktigarh In Eastern Part of Burdwan City (courtesy +Wikipedia)
• It is also considered Goddess Sita's favorite food. Hence the name :-)
• Traditionally Chandrapuli was shaped like the moon and chandra in Bengali means the moon. However, these days they come in all shapes. You make it round or shape it like a half moon.  

This is how they look~ Enjoy~

                                    

If you all have patience to make these sweets I have given links to some blogs below: 

Sita Bhog-

http://www.riyatreat.blog spot.in/2009/08/sita-bhog.html

Chandrapuli-

http://www.colorandspices.com/2012/10/sindur-khelakolakulisubho-bijoyar.html

Chana bhatura / Chole Batura

Chole Bhatura is one of the most famous Indian street food 

Ingredients:

• Soak 200 grams of Chana overnight.
• 2 onions( made into a fine paste) 
• 2 tsp of ginger garlic paste
• 3 tomatoes( make a fine paste out of it) 
• 2 bay leaves
• 2 tsp of Everest Chana masala
• 1 tbsp of garam masala powder
• 1 tsp of turmeric powder
• 1 tsp of cumin powder
• 1 tsp of corriender powder
• 2 tsp of Kashmiri red chilly powder (to get a red colour in the dish)
• 1 tsp of ghee
• Oil to cook
• Salt according to your  taste. 
• Bunch of coriander leaves.

Chana masala can also be enjoyed with jeera rice ( long grain basmati rice cooked with cumin seeds)

Method:

• Boil the soaked chana (chick pea) with 5 cups of water, one diced onion and 1 tsp of salt, Boil it until they are soft. Do not drain the water (stock) in which the chana is boiled.
• I have used a pressure cooker, so need around 4 whistles to get my chickpeas ready for the next step.
• Add 2 tsp of oil in a pan ( kadai).
• Add 2 bay leaves.
• Then add the onion paste and cook till light brown.
• Now add the ginger garlic paste and cook till the raw smell goes away.
• Add 1 tsp of turmeric powder, 1 tsp of jeera powder and 1 tsp of coriander powder and 1 tsp of chilly powder.
• Now add the tomato purée and mix it well.
• As u notice the oil coming up add the chickpeas (boiled chanas with water)
• Cook it for 5- 10 min then add the chana masala, garam masala and the ghee 
• Mix it well so that the masalas don't form a lump and get evenly distributed.
• Cook it in medium flame for another 15 mins. Its done!

          While serving garnish with coriander leaves from the top.

Bhaturas:

• Take maida (all purpose flour), curd and knead it well with warm water...
• Add salt and a pinch of soda while kneading the dough.
• Keep it covered with a wet cloth for around 1 hour.
• Then make small balls out of that dough and roll these out flatly in round shapes in a rolling pin and deep fry these.

You cancheck out the Video on How to make a bhatura

Generally these bhaturas are quite big ones...but I like it medium size in my home...as these bhaturas soaks lots of oil....may be when guests come over I would also make big ones and serve you.😀

ANDHRA CHICKEN CURRY

Ingredients: 

• 1 kg chicken cut into pieces.
• 3 medium sized onions chopped
• 2 tsp of ginger garlic paste
• 4 tomatoes made into fine paste 
• 1 Tsp of mustard seeds
• Few strands of curry leaves

Dry roast the following spices:

• poppy seed - 2 tbsp
• fennel seed -1 tbsp 
• Dry red chilly - 4
• Black pepper corn -1 tbsp
• cloves - 4
• cardamom - 3
• cinnamon- half inch

Procedure

Dry grind these spices without water and keep it aside.  

Clean 1 kilogram chicken and marinate it only with salt .  

Slice the onions and grind the red tomatoes.

Heat oil in a pan and put mustard seeds and curry leaves into the oil.

When they start spluttering fry the onion till its golden brown.

add ginger garlic paste  and fry them together.

Then add the marinated chicken pieces and fry them.

Lastly add the dry roasted spices which we ground earlier & fry them further in medium flame.

Add the tomato paste and mix it properly.

Cover the vessel and cook for few more minutes till such time  the gravy becomes more liquid due to the water coming from the chicken. 

You can add a little water if required. 

Cook until the chicken is soft and fully cooked.

 It's Ready! ENJOY~

Mixed vegetable

Mixed vegetable prepared in olive oil

Ingredients: 

• diced carrot
• diced beetroot
• Diced potato
• fresh peas
• garlic pieces

Procedure:  

Fry these vegetables mentioned above separately and keep it aside. Then heat some oil in a  pan & Add a teaspoon of cumin seeds and garlic pieces....then add the veggies that you fried earlier into the pan along with salt , oregano, and paprika powder...add a teaspoon of sugar & squeeze out some fresh lemon juice onto it to make it sweet and sour. Lastly add roasted basil and thyme crushed from the top. Serve Hot

Enjoy^_^

Canned Tuna fish Indian Style

Canned Tuna Indian Home Style Recipe

Canned tuna tastes great unlike what people may wonder about canned fish. 

In many gatherings people have asked me this question ...."mam how come u like this fish so much?....this fish is so smelly and you can't make it taste better" or sometimes they asked "OMG! it can only be grilled right? and I don't have an oven!" These are the questions which inspired me to share my easy homely version of Tuna fish chunks with an Indian touch! :)

You need a microwave or even an oven for this :)

Ingredients:

🔸2 cans tuna in chilli oil (180gm each- Ocean’s Secret)

🔸Sliced white onion: 3 big 

🔸4-5 green chillies

🔸Tomato : deseeded slices/ Tomato purée 4 Tbsp 

🔸Garlic 8-10 cloves 

🔸Ginger paste (optional ): 1 tsp

🔸Green onions /shallots: 100gm

🔸Chopped Cilantro (coriander)

Procedure:

🔸First add 4 tablespoon of chilli oil from the can.

🔸Fry the white onions once the oil heats, until it is golden brown.

🔸Add the chopped garlic and green chilli into And five for another 2-3 minutes

🔸Add the chopped tomatoes /or the tomato Purée. And fry for 5 min

🔸Now add the tuna and fry for 5-10mins.

🔸While it’s cooking, you can add ginger slices, and paprika (Kashmiri red chilli powder to add       spiciness)

🔸Add chopped cilantro (Dhania) from the top. Opt: add some chopped green shallots and give it a stir.

🔸If you are using salted/Tuna in brine then you may not need to add any salt at all. Or you might require some salt.

🔸Since I’ve used a canned tuna with almost no salt, I had to add salt according to our preference, around 1-2tsp

Tips: 

🔸To give it an Indian twist, add 1 tbsp ghee and 1tsp Garam masala powder over the top and give it a stir.

🔸Adjust the salt and the shallots as per your liking.

      ~Enjoy it with hot breads /Rice~  

Video Recipe

My Healthy Bell pepper Salad

I've been cooking lots of chicken lately... so lets have some healthy salad today...ingredients......yellow and red bell peppers, baby corns, boiled eggs, cabbage leaves,broccoli,.., cilantro leaves to garnish., olive oil, 
SPICES....freshly grind pepper, chilly flakes, oregano, basil and little roasted thyme.
Boil d baby corn and blanch the broccoli....then heat olive oil and sautey baby corn and broccoli for 2 min..put all ingredients in a big bowl and mix it well with a dash of salt and lemon juice...serve it with grapes and boiled egg on top.

Chicken Egg Rolls

1. These are the ingredients which I have given inside the roll. Cut thin slices of onion and cucumber and very little carrot. Mix these with soya sauce, chilly sauce, tomato sauce and very little vinegar.

2. This is d chicken preparation . I have boiled some chicken shredded it and pan fried it with some onion , garlic, chilly and corriender leaves..    (3) knead some white flour with water, oil and little salt,

                                   

Take a dollop of the dough and roll it in d pin and fry it on the pan like pancake. Apply egg on only one side. Turn it and put d two mixtures accordingly inside it.. Now fold both sides and wrap a nice paper and make it tight.  Serve it with sauce.

Spicy Tomato Chicken With Egg poach!

Tomato chicken needs onion, ginger garlic paste and lots of tomatoes.. Take the breast pieces and marinate those with salt, ginger garlic paste and vinegar... Add a dash of haldi and Kashmiri mirch powder in that. After 4 hrs of marination fry these chickens in 2 tbsp of oil for 15 mins in medium flame and keep it aside.... Add some more oil and fry onion paste till it becomes brown. Then add the tomato pieces with a dash of salt in it. Keep on frying till the oil separates. Add the fried chicken with chilly powder and 1 tsp of sugar & Put one cup of water and put the pressure cooker lid. Just one whistle is good enough... After the pressure is relieved you can add ghee garam masala from top ( it's optional). When u serve put one poached egg on top.

~SMILEY~

Korean Crispy Fried Chicken-"Dakgangjeong"

Hi friends....if you are tired of eating you daily dal, roti, sabji then why don't you try this chicken..Its yummy and a change from mundane chicken preparations.i really got inspired from Mangchi"s blog and her Korean preparations...so decided to give an Indian touch to it and yet maintain the Korean concept.

Cut 500 gms of chicken breast pieces into small ones and coat those pieces with the mixture of salt, pepper and minced ginger....then dip these pieces into a mixture of cornflour, salt and egg whites....

then deep fry these pieces and drain the oil...after sometime to make it real crispy doubly fry it in the oil till it acquires a golden brown colour.

lastly...take little oil in a diff pan and stir fry some garlic, onion and dried red chilly.then add some vinegar, sweet and sour tomato sauce and little mustard sauce..then add the fried chicken in that and keep on stir frying till the sauce sticks to the chicken... to make it a bit hot added some fried green chilly in that....& It's Done!!

This is how it looked~~~ENJOY!

^__^ OMURICE~~

PROCEDURE.... this is basically a Japanese dish. Boil some chicken pieces..sautey these chicken pieces with some garlic. bell peppers and spring onion...2nd step..mix some soya sauce, chilly sauce and tomato sauce and add boiled rice to the mixture... 3rd step...beat 2 eggs..4th step.......heat some oil in the pan and spread some egg batter,,put some rice chicken mixture in it and then wrap d egg around the mixture as shown in the picture.... its ready..... Its a wholesome meal and protinous too as it has rice, chicken and egg...So enjoy your meal.  Sayonara...

Watermelon Juice To Beat the Heat! let's Start!

I never really liked cooking….It’s been almost a year since I’ve posted anything on my blog. Everyone has ups and downs in life…& when I was going through some hardships…that’s when I realised that I don’t dislike cooking coz It’s my stress buster and also I cook with love and people whom I love like to eat what I make. So one fine day I realised, why don’t I start sharing with other people my cooking style/ skills (whichever) I’m a member of a foodie group on facebook and I post what I cook there….I was really happy to see that people loved my food & found my recipes easy to follow and I received a lot of comments that I should start my Food blog!....So VOILA!...So let’s add some Spice to life! My recipes will be very simple and easy for the people who want “EASY & QUICK BUT TASTY” food! …I’m sure this has happened with many of you…When we see many ingredients and complex procedures we abstain from cooking those dishes.We all love our mom’s cooking Don’t we? I’ll be bringing to you all food that our moms made for us and that we as moms can make for our kids…None of us are perfect & we all make mistakes now and then(even disasters) when it comes to cooking…But I will post about how we can turn such disastrous situations into our advantage. How we can alter our recipes and even re-use the same thing twice! We are all busy with our life’s but sometimes we just want good food on the table :) So stay tuned for my ideas!! Friends pl Read & follow my blog & let me know if you tried out the recipes here!

   
This is the best thing most natural thing to beat this Summer Heat! 
Cut the water melon into small pieces and remove as many seeds as possible. Put the pieces into the Juicer or Food processor(mixer). To enhance its taste a few drops of rose syrup and 1 sachet sugar fee/glass is added. Serve chilled with ice cubes! Enjoy!